The fiscal 2017 defense appropriations bill that the House will vote on this week includes almost $900 million more in shipbuilding and conversion funds than the bill that passed the House last year.
The House is expected to vote Wednesday on the fiscal 2017 defense appropriations bill, which already passed the House by a 282-138 vote last Congress, but failed to clear the Senate.
Leaders in Congress have said that the bill “closely reflects” both the old House bill and the funding levels set by the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. A spokeswoman for the House Appropriations Committee said that the bill overall is about $2.1 billion higher than the previous House bill. The new bill would set funding at $516.1 billion for base funding and $61.8 billion for overseas contingency operations.
Comparing the two bills shows that the version introduced last week would spend about $876 million more on Navy shipbuilding and conversion than last year’s bill, with six programs seeing increases.
Some of the biggest increases are for the new class of Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyers, which would get $403.5 million more under the new bill, and the replacement for the amphibious assault ship, which would get $178.5 million more.
Two programs saw decreases. The carrier replacement account and funding for advanced procurement for aircraft carrier refueling will each get about $15 million less.
Democrats have said they will not support the defense funding bill unless Congress also begins passing non-defense spending bills, setting up the same fight as the last session.
